A nice death knight?

I'm not talking a good deathknight per se, as there are some. But I'm talking about a death knight that's a generally nice and good mood person that isn't all depressing and somber. Has anyone ever experimented with a character like that? Or is it just too far fetched to be taken seriously?

A Death knight who truly feels sorry for the actions he has done under the control of the Lich King isn't too far fetched. Theres even 1 such character in ICC (the DK Tier vendor / guy who gives you rings) who poked his eyes outs because he couldn't stand looking at the world where he caused so much pain. It does eliminate some options for a background story however, as a DK who before he got killed was a bloodthirsty savage wouldn't do well (quite self explanatory I feel, but would still mention it)

I can imagine a genuinely nice death knight. Perhaps someone with a good sense humor, in such good spirit that even in undeath he retained his good will and humor through force of will or because it was his defining characteristic. Maybe since it's been a while since the fall of the Lich King that the Death Knight has come to terms with his or her griefs and regrets that he or she is ready to move on with their life staying positive. The only lore restriction I foresee causing problems is all Death Knights as I understand have to inflict pain in some form or measure or suffer themselves like an addiction. This was pointed out when Blizzard's creative developers were asked if Blood Elf Death Knights suffer their arcane addiction the answer was "no but suffer something arguably worse, the addiction to cause pain that all death knights suffer." To loosely quote Blizzard.

I think it's not too far fetched, maybe the character could be in the same vain as the Addams Family. A character who genuinely enjoys the morbid and macabre but is mentally stable and polite. Worth taking a crack at, I think.

Too often do I see Death-Knights have a "Woe is me everyone I loved is dead and gone, I was slain in honorable combat and I am on a vengeful quest to find my killer, I don't feel pain anymore"

God...so emo...

Innovate people! Don't just regurgitate the same ol' same ol'

I think that it is a pretty logical step as part of a death knight's history, especially if they were once a practitioner of the Light.

That having been said I don't think it's a very fun "end-game" for a character's history, that is to say, it's not fun to roleplay as an emo death knight. I prefer my one who has come to terms with their loss of connectivity to the light and has embraced his undeath.

As for the idea of a nice death knight, it's certainly possible, but he or she will have to reconcile their desire to inflict pain. Perhaps in a masochistic manner or through more military work, but it needs to happen and that death knight will need to come to terms with that necessity of their new (un)life.

The way I see it, they have to inflict pain, but there doesn't seem to be anything about them having to enjoy the pain. They could exert this need to hurt things by using it for the benefit of the people the DK cares about. An example would be protecting people by slaughtering bands of gnoll pillagers. That way he won't feel guilty about his addiction to killing. Another way he could sate this addiction is to become a butcher or something. That would be a good way for DK who doesn't want to fight anymore to channel his bloodthirst, though I'm not sure how many people are okay with a DK handling their meats. :P

They need to rend flesh, spill blood - or to say it short, have to kill to prevent this burning hunger, of which Instructor Razuvious tells the player Death Knight. As Knights of the Scourge, they enjoyed this very much so - but since they are no longer Scourge, they sort of came to grips with who they really are and what's good and wrong. They instead turn this hunger upon their enemies, but it is by no means something they enjoy. (though this can vary from Death Knight to Death Knight)

The text of Razzuvious:
The endless hunger will soon take hold of you, death knight. When it does, you will feel pain immeasurable. There is only one remedy for the suffering: the hunger must be sated.
I give you the key to your salvation.
Chained to the Heart of Acherus are those deemed unworthy of the dark brotherhood. Use the key to free an unworthy initiate. Allow them to equip their gear and battle you for their freedom. Kill and the pain will cease. Fail and suffer for eternity.
Live or die - the choice is yours to make.

This is a bit more in-depth. The Third Gens are created so that they constantly feel nothing but pain and suffer greatly with the only way to stop the pain being to kill. This does several things. The first is that it robs the Death Knight of his emotions, turning him into nothing more than a husk of who he was. The second is that it fills that husk with the urge to kill and cause suffering.

It also appears that this curse can be cured, as the 'agony' forced upon the Third Generation is caused by malevolent spirits only seen in the Shadow Realm. This is evidenced by Koltira Deathweaver's quest, The Power to Destroy - meaning that Death Knights may be able to have a form of positive emotions. Though how good isn't exactly specified - and by the time it is cured..it may already be too late.

(For those who may not know, Third Generation Death Knights are the ones we can play. Second Generation are those such as Arthas, and the Four Horsemen, and the First Generation Death Knights are the orcish Warlocks/Necromancers of old, whose souls were placed in the fallen Stormwind soldier's bodies - these are mostly presumed dead.)

They need to rend flesh, spill blood - or to say it short, have to kill to prevent this burning hunger, of which Instructor Razuvious tells the player Death Knight. As Knights of the Scourge, they enjoyed this very much so - but since they are no longer Scourge, they sort of came to grips with who they really are and what's good and wrong. They instead turn this hunger upon their enemies, but it is by no means something they enjoy. (though this can vary from Death Knight to Death Knight)

The text of Razzuvious:

The endless hunger will soon take hold of you, death knight. When it does, you will feel pain immeasurable. There is only one remedy for the suffering: the hunger must be sated.
I give you the key to your salvation.
Chained to the Heart of Acherus are those deemed unworthy of the dark brotherhood. Use the key to free an unworthy initiate. Allow them to equip their gear and battle you for their freedom. Kill and the pain will cease. Fail and suffer for eternity.
Live or die - the choice is yours to make.

This is a bit more in-depth. The Third Gens are created so that they constantly feel nothing but pain and suffer greatly with the only way to stop the pain being to kill. This does several things. The first is that it robs the Death Knight of his emotions, turning him into nothing more than a husk of who he was. The second is that it fills that husk with the urge to kill and cause suffering.

It also appears that this curse can be cured, as the 'agony' forced upon the Third Generation is caused by malevolent spirits only seen in the Shadow Realm. This is evidenced by Koltira Deathweaver's quest, The Power to Destroy - meaning that Death Knights may be able to have a form of positive emotions. Though how good isn't exactly specified - and by the time it is cured..it may already be too late.

(For those who may not know, Third Generation Death Knights are the ones we can play. Second Generation are those such as Arthas, and the Four Horsemen, and the First Generation Death Knights are the orcish Warlocks/Necromancers of old, whose souls were placed in the fallen Stormwind soldier's bodies - these are mostly presumed dead.)

Hope this helped a bit.

I'm curious about 1st gen dks, is there a way to read about this more?

At first, on Draenor you had the Orcish Warlocks and Necromancers (basically all the dark magic users and followers of the Legion) lead by the Warlock Gul'dan. These Orcs formed what is known as the Shadow Council. This cult had many layers, inner circles and the like and controlled the orcish society, to say it short. However, when Gul'dan fell into a coma, Warchief Blackhand was usurped by Doomhammer - who then tortured Garona about the Council, Doomhammer proceeded by wiping all the Warlocks out. When Gul'dan recovered, his entire council was gone - but he swore loyalty to Doomhammer, to create an unstoppable army of warriors. Having experimented with souls of the former Councilmembers, and the bodies of fallen Stormwind soldiers - Gul'dan created the first of the Death Knights, Teron Gorefiend. More followed in the days to come.

Now, when Gul'dan betrayed the Horde for power - the Death Knights seemed to have shifted loyalties to Ner'zhul (Gul'dan's former mentor) - who searched for several powerful artifacts to open many gateways. The magical stress caused by all these portals tore Draenor apart into what is now Outland - and many of the Death Knights fled, along with Ner'zhul to other worlds. Most of these death knights were destroyed during and after the Second War, either killed by the Alliance or transformed into liches by Kil'jaeden. Teron Gorefiend survived in a way (Ancient Shadowmoon Spirit who tricks the player into restoring him to life) and Ragnok Bloodreaver (http://www.wowpedia.org/Ragnok) It asumed they are all dead now - though some believe Duskwood/Deadwind Pass' Dark Riders to be 1st Gens as well.

I believe i read somewhere that dark riders of deadwind pass are explained to be worgen of the druids of the pack. Here is the comment on wowpedia.org: "The epilogue of the Curse of the Worgen comic shows that Velinde Starsong was killed by a group of worgen, led by Varkas, who wanted the Scythe of Elune to usurp power from Alpha Prime. This seems to hint that the Dark Riders are these worgen.". I believe there is a comic book named Dark Riders that focus on these guys, and it appears ou that (i did not read it so i cant say for sure) those guys are worgen of wolf cult.

Teron Gorefiend was defeated in Black Temple by players so i assume he is gone for sure this time. He was killed for the third time for God's sake

I would assume that after the Fall of the Lich King many many Death Knights will have posed a simple question: "What now?" I could very well imagine that some of those undead would try to shape their existance to have a new meaning and being nice about it is not too far fetched. I don't roleplay a DK but if I tried to It would probably be an orc that after ridding the world of the Lich King would go back to old orcish warrior teachings. Surpressing the orcish bloodlust could be a deed easily comparable with a deathknights need to cause pain. So there are surely ways to be a nice deathknight. But it has to agree with the characters Background.

The Death Knight Sir Zeliek in Naxxramas, despite his body being controlled by Kel'Thuzad, is still sane. He is still even able to use the powers of the Light. I bet this would have been a really nice DK chap if he hadn't been controlled and was allowed to roam free

The problem however in this case is that Zeliek (in terms of spells) is more of an undead paladin than a DK, since he wields no death knight powers. Still this may be something you could use as a form of inspiration

While often mentioned i would be very careful argumenting around Sir Zelliek. Him explicitly using Holy Magic was a more game mechanic related dicision iirc. And while I agree with your sentiment towards him, even Blizzard themselves have more or less striken him out of Lore considering the Holy Light. I once quoted a Q&A answer that pretty much confirms this, but I can't find it immo. Maybe I'll dig it up later

Q: Can you please explain how "light" works?
A: Without spoiling too much, we can tell you that wielding the Light is a matter of having willpower or faith in one's own ability to do it. That's why there are evil paladins (for example, the Scarlet Crusade and Arthas before he took up Frostmourne). [...] and Sir Zeliek REALLY hates himself.

So I must say Sir Zeliek would be a prime example for a nice guy deathknight.

Another inspiration for a nice death knight would be thassarian, as even in service of the lich king he wished to save koltira from the crusade. And once he was freed he became loyal to the king of stormwind and still had love for his sister.